Costuming is my main interest.
Typical for me, when I get interested in something, I jump in with both
feet. Right now, I'm the President of our chapter of the International
Costumers Guild (aka St. Louis Ubiquitous Tailoring Society -- SLUTS).
We have between 30-40 members at the moment. Nora and I have also
published a collection of costume photos for the ICG, showcasing its members' works.

Doctor Who --
I'll always have a
fond place for it in my heart. I met a lot of friends there, including
Nora. I was the President of the local DW fan club for 4 years, and my
first costume was from Doctor Who -- Fred
, a full sized
Dalek Supreme. He lives in our basement.

Now that the show has been
revived, I'm really enjoying watching it again.

Anime - I've always had a
fascination for animation. I used to make my own stop-motion films when
I was a kid. For awhile, I went to a lot of animation film festivals.
Back in the 1980s, I was watching Japanese anime before it became
cool. I kind of got out of the habit a year or two after Nora and
I got married. Now, we've sort of been re-discovering it again.As part of our learning about the huge anime fandom that exists now,
in connection with folks who wear costumes of their favorite characters,
we've been buying videos again, along with watching stuff on the Toon
Channel. We're now dabbling with making our own anime-inspired
outfits. We attended our first convention in 2005.

Near Death Experiences -- Ooo, there's
a cheery subject! I became interested in this while researching
for a costume I was making. An NDE is where someone "dies"
temporarily and has an out-of-body experience before being revived
again. They may see loved ones or religious figures -- it differs with
each person. It can actually be quite uplifting to learn about, since I
believe Death is by no means an end to our existence.

My
personal focus is on people who have seen animals during their
experiences. I've
been collecting stories relating to the existence of animal immortality and
have just launched the bare bones of a website called The Path to Forever,
devoted to this subject. The original documentation for the
presentation, "Gone...But Not Forgotten" is the centerpiece of
the site. I will eventually add more stories I've found, plus
there'll be related links of interest to people who love their animals
and have wondered about the Afterlife.

As one of the
outgrowths from the above, I sort of collect winged cat art.

Gossamer - I also collect good
images of this minor Warner Bros. cartoon monster character.
For a pic of him, go to the Office.

Otters -- We both like 'em,
especially river otters. We have an in-joke between us related to them.
When we run into someone with strong body odor, we say they've brought
their "otters" with them, and are in need of "de-otterant".
All sorts of visual imagery and little voices come to mind. See more
about otters in the
Bedroom.

Bagpipes! - Ever since I saw "The Longest Day", an
old war movie back in the 1960s, I've always kind of liked Scottish
Highland bagpipes. Nora gave me a practice chanter as part of a
kit to learn them, before we were married (she likes them too).
For whatever reason (mostly not wanting to spend the time learning), I
never got around trying to play it. Finally, in May of 2005, I
finally pushed myself to give it a go. As it happens, there's a
well-known in town group called the John
Ford Highland Pipe Band that practices just 4 miles from our
house. I'll let you know how it goes....